The Cup Series travels to the Irish Hills of Michigan this week. There are only three races left in the regular season and three races left in the Fantasy Live regular season. I am either 1st or 2nd in all of my Fantasy Live leagues. I need to finish this season strong in order to maintain my lead or move up one spot in the leagues where I am behind. I hope you are in the same position. The last two races have been tough, but I will do my best to get this train rolling down the tracks again.
This is the portion of the article where I recap the last race. I really do not want to write about Richmond. Between Chris Buescher’s pit road mistake, Martin Truex Jr.’s car blowing up, Christopher Bell speeding on pit road and Austin Dillon taking out two of my drivers (Denny Hamlin and Joey Logan), to win at Richmond, it was just a frustrating evening. I cannot believe the picks moved up from 73rd overall to 72nd in the Fantasy Live standings. I guess everyone had a rough race at Richmond.
CUP SERIES PRACTICE
The practice session Saturday was a mess. First, it was scheduled to be two groups on the track for 20-minutes. Then NASCAR changed it to one group for 40-minutes because of the threat of rain in the area. The cars finally got on the track for four minutes before it started to mist. Finally, the cars got back on the track with 25-minutes left in practice. The drivers got about 15-minutes of practice before the mist returned and the red flag was waived. We did get enough practice time to see which drivers had single-lap speed and five-lap average speed. I am just not sure we learned much with all of the start and stopping in practice.
*Qualifying was canceled because of rain.
FANTASY LIVE STRATEGY
There are three races left in the Fantasy Live season and we only have to map out our drivers for two of them. We can get through the race at Daytona with drivers that we have not used much this season. That means we need to use our best drivers at Michigan and at Darlington. I am not worried about allocations this week. If a driver had speed in practice and he qualified up front, I am using him in my lineup. There is no tomorrow at this point of the Fantasy Live season.
FANTASY LIVE PICKS FOR MICHIGAN
KYLE LARSON (2): Larson has been a beast on the larger tracks where the intermediate track aero package has been used. He just won at Indianapolis and he has wins this year at Las Vegas and Kansas. He is also good at Michigan. Larson finished 7th in the Gen-7 car at Michigan in 2022 and he finished 5th at the track last year. I have two allocations left with the No. 5 car and I am not ending the season with allocations left in my pocket with Larson.
WILLIAM BYRON (2): Byron has not been great at Michigan in the Gen-7 car, but his Hendrick Motorsports car should be fast enough to finish in the top-10 Sunday. Byron finished 12th at Michigan in 2022 and he had a tire go down in the race last year. The No. 24 car posted the 4th-fastest speed in practice and Byron starts 9th for the race. Byron got off to a hot start in 2024 and he needs to build some momentum entering the playoffs. I hope it all starts with a finish up front at Michigan.
ROSS CHASTAIN (8): We have seen Chastain use the “Hail Mellon” to secure a spot in the playoffs. Could we see Chastain throw a “Hail Mary” to secure a spot this year? Chastain is a dangerous driver when he is desperate. He said after the race at Richmond, “I would have done the same thing (as Austin Dillon) to win the race.” Yeah, we know Ross…. The No. 1 car has been at its best on the large intermediate tracks and Chastain had some speed in practice. Chastain was the fastest in practice, so I will take a chance with the No. 1 car in the race.
BRAD KESELOWSKI (6): This is a home game for Keselowski. He has often said that winning at his home track in Michigan would be as big as winning the Daytona 500. It is hard to believe that Keselowski has never been to Victory Lane in Michigan, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad pick this week. Keselowski started 12th, led 15 laps and finished 4th in this race last year. He also has the second-best average finishing position on the intermediate tracks this year with his win at Darlington and second-place finishes at Texas and Charlotte. This is a good race to have Keselowski in your lineup.
BUBBA WALLACE (6): Wallace is 3 points above Chris Buescher in the cut-off for the playoffs and he desperately needs a win or a big point’s day in order to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot. Wallace nearly won at Michigan in 2022 in the Gen-7 car. He won the pole, led 22 laps and finished 2nd. I will gladly take a race like that from Wallace Sunday.
(GARAGE PICK) MARTIN TRUEX JR. (3): Truex has been one of the best drivers at Michigan in the Gen-7 car. He finished 6th at Michigan in 2022 and he finished 2nd in the race last year. The No. 19 car has also been fast in the races where the intermediate track aero package has been used. Truex finished 7th at Las Vegas and 4th at Kansas. He posted the 2nd-fastest speed in practice, but Truex will start 24th, since he engine blew up last week. I still think Truex will be fast enough to get to the front, so I will have him in the Garage as an insurance policy Sunday.
Good luck and be sure to follow me on X (Twitter) @MrFantasyNASCAR. I will send out a Tweet during the race to let you know if I plan to swap out one of my drivers for my Garage pick.